Egypt Identified as one of top Trojan creating countries

Published February 16th, 2010 - 14:06 GMT

Land of Pharaohs fertile ground for cybercrime says Kaspersky Lab

Egypt is responsible for three per cent of the world’s malware designed to steal computer passwords according to Cairo ICT 2010 exhibitor Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions.

Speaking on the sidelines of one of the region’s biggest information and telecommunications technology events, Tarek Kuzbari, Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab, Middle East, said that Egypt was identified as the region’s top creator of PSW Trojans, a special version of malware specifically designed to steal passwords and log in details from computer users.

“This can prove very dangerous for unsuspected and unprotected Internet browsers as their online banking details and other vital information stored online can be compromised and used against them and at their expense by unscrupulous cyber criminals,” he said.

“Egypt was among our Top Ten list of the world’s Trojan creating countries in a list led by China, which was found to account for 63 per cent of the world’s Trojans. Egypt was on the same level with the USA, Ukraine, Mexico, and France,” said Kuzbari.

Kaspersky Lab has also revealed that Egypt is one of the world’s biggest cybercrime victims according to data collected in 2008. While the number of victims fell slightly in 2009, the country’s online users are exposed to cybercrime because of the low awareness about the risks and dangers such activity can inflict.

With nearly 13 per cent of its population online, Egypt has an Internet penetration rate of 16 per cent and ranks Africa’s top online market with 19.1 per cent of the continent’s users.

According to Internet World Stats (IWS), Egypt has seen an exponential growth of 2,693 per cent in Internet usage between 2000 and 2009 and this alone is enough to make the country Africa’s most appealing target for cyber space criminals.

Kaspersky Lab is the world’s fastest growing anti virus and internet security specialists and is eyeing a larger share in Egypt’s consumer and enterprise markets through its partnership with ValueSys, its Cairo-based reseller.